Fans

Tom Umberg still remembers the Ducks' inaugural game at Honda Center in 1993. The Arrowhead Pond, as it was then called, was packed with more than 17,000 fans, all using their duck calls to accompany a Dixieland band in its rendition of "When the Ducks Go Marching In. " At one point during the pregame show Wild Wing, the team's greater than life-sized duck mascot, flew into the arena from the rafters. Umberg was in awe. So much so that almost 21 years later he remembers the pregame more than the final score.

Ah, isn't that sweet? The big boys are arguing. Holding their breath and not going to play until … something. Time Warner Cable and DirecTV can't even agree on what they're not agreeing about. But they've drawn a line in the infield, or at least one side claims the other side did. Which it denies. Keep that scorecard handy. This isn't a negotiation, it's torture by rhetoric with fans on the rack. The new baseball season is almost a week old now and discussions between TWC and the other providers to broadcast the Dodgers' new 24/7 channel, SportsNet LA, appear to be broadening faster than you can say “Erisbel Arruebarrena.” Time Warner Cable officials told The Times' Joe Flint that DirecTV had ceased serious negotiations to carry SportsNet LA and been informed the satellite provider would not carry the Dodgers this year.

L.A. has great sports fans. Uniquely loyal, yet never to be had. If Time Warner Cable thinks the notion "I need my Dodgers.com" even remotely resonates, they're advised to go back and review "I need my Rams & Raiders.com. " Anthony J. Moretti Lomita :: I realize that this full-page ad for Dodgers baseball on SportsNet L.A. is big money, but, I, for one, don't want my cable bill to go up, even one more dollar, in order to pay over-salaried players. To my TV provider, I'm willing to "miss this" and attend a few games in the season at Chavez Ravine instead.

Few dates on the baseball calendar can match a home opener for pomp, ceremony and excitement. Or, in the case of Dodger Stadium on Friday afternoon, for long lines, crowded concourses and Wi-Fi snafus. But for the legions of blue-and-white-clad loyalists, what happened in the stands likely rated as nothing more than minor inconveniences compared to what happened on the field, where sloppiness fueled an 8-4 loss to the division-leading San Francisco Giants. On the reserved level, some in the sellout crowd of 53,493 waited in concession lines for as long as 45 minutes.

The dreaded Giants were in town and Dodger fans were out in force on opening day, tailgating, wearing the blue and turning Elysian Park into a giant latrine. Chad Kline of Echo Park was walking his dog, Lola, early Friday morning when he saw fans hiking up into the bushes between Scott and Academy Roads to water the plants. "I went up to these three motorcycle officers … and informed them about 15 gentlemen were urinating in the park and I said, 'I think it's illegal, what are you going to do about it?

I was 8 years old in the summer of 1966, which was about the time I discovered that professional baseball was something I could follow in the daily newspaper. There were standings, all those box scores and statistics to pore over and, as an East Coaster, the revelation that baseball games on the West Coast happened later and thus were subject to the abbreviation “inc” on the list of the previous days' results. That was also the year I became a Baltimore Orioles fan, due in no small part to the team's tremendous season and the 4-0 shellacking they gave the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven World Series that fall (sorry about that, Los Angeles)

Chip Kelly is just too busy to attend your wedding. It's an excuse we've all tried to use before, but the Philadelphia Eagles coach actually does have a pretty good reason for not witnessing the marriage of two random fans who decided to send him an invitation. A little thing called the NFL draft. Otherwise, he'd be there without hesitation. After all, who doesn't want to spend a Saturday watching two strangers tie the knot? Anyhow, Kelly was gracious enough to send a handwritten RSVP.

Dodgers fans who want to watch this afternoon's game against the Padres but don't have the team's new channel SportsNet LA might have to go park themselves at bar to catch the action. But don't just assume that every bar and restaurant will have the Dodgers; many have only DirecTV, and the satellite service is yet to cut a deal with Time Warner Cable for SportsNet LA. Although the Dodgers own SportsNet LA, Time Warner Cable is the channel's distribution partner. “It's definitely frustrating for us,” said AJ Sacher, regional manager for Barney's Beanery, which has six locations in the Los Angeles area but only one (West Hollywood)

Screams rang out Saturday night across the Los Angeles Sports Arena as Taiwanese band Mayday brought its brand of Asian stadium rock to an all-Chinese audience for a show celebrating its 15th anniversary. "We don't usually do anything on our anniversary, but this year, it seems like things are different - because you guys all came," said Chin-Hang Shih, the lead guitarist, to screams and cheers. With matching outfits and a yellow submarine gracing the cover of their press kit, the members of Mayday are sometimes described as the Beatles of Asia.

Even in today's economy you'd think $1.4 billion would be enough to buy love. Or at the very least, indifference. But that hasn't been the case with the Glazer family, whose debt-driven purchase of English soccer team Manchester United a decade ago has brought them five Premier League titles, three League Cups, a Champions League crown, a FIFA Club World Cup - and a death threat against Malcolm Glazer, the billionaire patriarch of the family....